


rain

by teaxtea



Category: TOMORROW X TOGETHER | TXT (Korea Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Not K-Pop Idols, Angst, Attempt at Humor, Fluff, I'll add the tags as I go, Kang Taehyun doesn't take shit, M/M, Minor Choi Soobin/Choi Yeonjun, Other Ships Not Mentioned in Tags, Slight horror, TAEGYU centric, Vampires, Yeonbin, alternate universe - preparatory college students, beomgyu is confident, extreme natural disaster, humans are faced with an alien enemy found in the nature they are so dependent on, i have many ideas but nowhere to put them, mature themes, nature is the enemy brought about by careless human activity, no honorifics, not good at comedy rip, not sure what is up with these long ass tags rip, oooh, taegyu, taehyun may come off as an asshole but he has his reasons and reservations
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-07-23
Updated: 2020-08-10
Packaged: 2021-03-04 21:01:12
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 3
Words: 9,843
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25392793
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/teaxtea/pseuds/teaxtea
Summary: It was the day the rain fell.And with the rain came a change that would act as a catalyst to many more.-----Alternatively: What would you do if your world turned on you before your eyes? Your most innate desire would be to run, as wired within the human body is the instinct to flee when you face something bigger than you, or a problem to which you don't have an answer.But when they were faced with their situation, flee was exactly what they couldn't do.
Relationships: Choi Beomgyu/Kang Taehyun
Comments: 23
Kudos: 31





	1. 1

**Author's Note:**

> disclaimer: there will be no use of honorifics in this fic, it isn't a part of my culture and I believe it complicates things in writing lol ( also, think of the setting of this story as a cross between Korean cities and American ones )

rain ff idea

* * *

The cicadas chirped in the green just outside the classroom, as the merciless sun shone through the failure of a tinted window and onto Taehyun’s skin, scorching it through the glass. He placed a warm hand over the burning skin in an effort to protect it from the harsh rays of sun.

He was rested against the dark wooden chairs of his classroom, the back of his white shirt soaked with sweat that stuck a wet warmth onto his skin. 

He watched the second hand of the clock tick the time away, his teacher droning on at the front of the class, something about logarithmic functions and equations Taehyun had already studied in the past.

He put a lazy hand to his chin, resting his head on his palm. His eyes were open, looking at everything and looking at nothing, as he stared into space.

The clock ticked. His teacher called on a student. His arm was getting hit by the sun again. The student stood up. The clock ticked. The class was silent. Taehyun placed his hand over his exposed skin, shielding his arm from the sun. A droplet of sweat from his forehead hit the table.

“-it takes approximately two to three minutes for a man to fully orgasm, sir.”

“Choi Beomgyu, what did I tell you about unnecessary comments-“

“But sir, if I may,”

“You may  _not_!" The old teacher put a palm to his forehead, and inhaled a heavy breath. "Just sit down.”

The class snickered as Beomgyu took his seat in the middle of the class. Beomgyu was popular amongst the students of the school for knowing weird things, and his loud and witty character. Taehyun didn’t like him much, as Beomgyu had only joined the class to clown around. 

“Kang Taehyun.” His teacher called him.

Taehyun peeled his back away from the heat of his chair, his wet shirt bringing cold to his skin after he had lost his backrest.

“Yes sir.”

“The question on the board?” The teacher pointed smug eyes at Taehyun, sure he would not be getting the answer.

However, Taehyun opened his mouth to speak.

“Three times ten to the power of negative fifteen.”

His teacher blinked, then motioned for Taehyun to take his seat. Taehyun sat, and swiped a wet bang off his forehead.

“Tryhard.” Beomgyu whispered to the nameless group of people that surrounded him, and they all snickered in Taehyun’s direction.

The bell rang. The class stood, but Taehyun remained seated, swatting at the sun that pierced at his arm.

* * *

Taehyun grabbed his bag from his locker and shut it, enduring the pushes and shoves he got as he tried to make his way to the automatic doors that served as an exit to the oven of a building.

But outside, the sun shone, and somehow, the heat was harsher than before. He watched the automatic doors slide open and close with students in their uniforms running outside as though to test the intensity of the sun, only for them run back in as it hit their skin with unbridled intensity.

Taehyun sighed. He supposed he would be staying inside for a while, chilling - _well, more like roasting_ \- in the school until the sun had lessened in intensity.

Taehyun set his sights upon one of the long benches in the clean lobby, and approached it, his school bag in hand, his cell phone in the other. He sat, and unlocked his phone, tapping on the ‘piano tiles’ icon.

But before he could begin tapping at his screen, an arm was around his shoulders, a nearly nasal voice speaking into his ear,

“Yo, Taehyun! Crazy weather we've got out there, right?”

Taehyun looked up from his screen and smiled at his blond senior, and waved at the group that usually accompanied him - Soobin - the blond's boyfriend, Hueningkai, Soobin's best friend, and-

Then his smile had disappeared, and with it, his slight enthusiasm to see his friends.

"What is he doing here?" Taehyun asked.

Yeonjun looked around. "Oh, Beomgyu? I'm friends with him, remember? We were going to go walk home together, but I felt I should ask if you wanted to come along-"

Taehyun knew that Yeonjun and Beomgyu were friends, and he honestly didn't have a problem with it. Beomgyu was friends with everyone, but him - and really, that wasn't a problem, but Taehyun didn't have to act like he enjoyed being in the eccentric's company.

Taehyun spared a look in the direction of the transparent automatic doors. There were dark clouds far in the distance, but the rays of the sun still glared bright, and the refracted light out on the road shone a wavy mirage. The people outside wiped at their foreheads.

"Thanks for the offer, but no thanks. It's really hot out there. I'll wait until later." Taehyun didn't do well with the heat.

Yeonjun nodded, his gaze thoughtful. "Yeah, you know what, I think we'll wait with you." The five boys were now on the bench, Taehyun on one end, and Beomgyu on the other.

Taehyun looked at his phone. There was rain in the forecast.

* * *

Five pm. School had closed at three thirty, and an overcast had just begun moving over the school, shielding the students from the sun. Some people had begun exiting the grounds, flashy rich kids out on their father's sports cars, driving their way home to a party. He packed his bags up and put his phone away, preparing himself to leave. He hadn't brought a jacket- you'd have to be crazy to have one in the insane heat - and he didn't have an umbrella. He needed to leave before the rain started pouring.

"You ready?" Yeonjun asked, and Taehyun nodded. Despite how quiet Taehyun was around him, Taehyun was quite fond of Yeonjun, as the blond was the only one to look past his hard exterior and actually _approach_ him. Taehyun was fond of Yeonjun's boyfriend as well, and he didn't blame Soobin for not talking to him before. Although Soobin stood tall, he was about as introverted as they came. Soobin was nice. Hueningkai was fun and adorable, but he had taken Taehyun a little getting used to.

"Beomgyu, are you coming?" The shortest of them stood from where he was seated. He nodded and smiled, "Of course."

Taehyun walked ahead.

It was when he was at the doors he saw the beginnings of a rain. It was a light drizzle, and Taehyun sighed. He had been deathly hot this morning, and now he risked catching a cold.

Yeonjun's arm wrapped itself around his shoulder.

"Let's go before it gets heavier. It's a shame none of us have a car-"

Outside, the alarm on a car rang, and some people had began on an abrupt screaming fest.

"What is going on out there?" Yeonjun stretched his neck as far as it could go - not very far - but soon relaxed. His eyes danced in curiosity. Taehyun just wanted to go home.

The rain had increased in vigor and intensity, and the screams followed suit, growing louder, absurdly intense, more desperate.

Taehyun took on a curious look of his own.

_ What is going on out there? _

A girl walked past them, hand to her ear on the phone as she spoke with someone, out of the doors and into the rain, an expensive and flashy brand name on her purse as she hastily walked by.

The boys watched. They saw with wide eyes, and their mouths opened in a silent scream of their own.

The girl dropped her purse and phone to the ground as the rain touched her skin. On contact with the water, the skin bubbled an ugly red - as though it were swelling upon a boil. as the rain poured, her blood surfaced through the elevated skin, turning her into a swollen, red blob of flesh. She was screaming and shaking as though she couldn't believe her eyes, her clothes ripping at the seams as she expanded, but no one knew what to do. 

They, amongst a crowd of others, could only watch in horror as the naked body promptly exploded - in a way that eerily resembled the manner in which a balloon would pop if you stuck a pin in it, spraying her blood and entrails to the ground with an audible, scandalizing splat. The tattered clothing fluttered to the stained tar of the road.

She was gone, and the rain had made a quick job of it. The water mercilessly beat the tar as though to wash any trace of what it had done away, as if to put up a harmless facade, to coax the next unsuspecting citizen into its clutches.

The sliding doors were heard sliding open in the silence of the school lobby. No one moved to go outside.

They could only watch as the water dripped down the expensive purse.

* * *

"What the fuck?" Taehyun heard Yeonjun whisper, and beheld Soobin blink in horrified confusion. Hueningkai was in Yeonjun's arms, the blond rubbing soothing circles on his back. Beomgyu had separated from their group, in favour of sitting down, his schoolbag in hand before him as he hunched his back on the bench they had previously been seated upon. 

Taehyun beheld in a daze of his own, the chaos within the lobby. People seeking comfort in the arms of friends - a group of girls hugging each other as they wailed aloud - and some people, even _closer_ friends - a couple, unbothered, passionately making out under the spiraling staircase.

Taehyun was horrified, horrified that he had been only a few steps away from being that girl, only a slide of two automatic doors away to have been the spectacle and object of everyone's pity and nightmares.

He sat on the floor, nearest to the transparent door, and watched the rain pour. He wondered what his mom was doing.

* * *

_I knew that girl,_ Beomgyu thought, his eyes stinging up with tears. Not necessarily tears of sadness, more so tears of horror. He didn't know what to do. He didn't know if he should do anything at all, he was actually more shocked than he was anything else. 

Had the rain caused that? His mind was overridden with unanswered questions. 

Now, Beomgyu had a reputation when he was younger, a reputation as the town's crybaby within his small neighbourhood, and he had worked hard to rid himself of that name.

But now, as the tears ran down his face without measure, he didn't bother stopping them. He would cry, and he wouldn't care. How was he supposed to live his life now, if the thing that kept it going had become his enemy?

"Fuck." He wiped the back of his palm on a wet cheek.

_Damn it all to hell._

* * *

"Good evening, students. It is your principal speaking." Taehyun slowly lifted his head away from the rain and towards the loudspeakers.

The principal kept on, "The school has been alerted of the situation outside, the situation being that we know nothing of the situation. But we, as a school, prioritize safety above all else, and that means you will need to remain on school grounds. Remember, you are a liability to our school, and that is a big responsibility. Please heed the rules, and do not leave school grounds unless it is absolutely necessary. Although we cannot legally limit you to school grounds, we hope you listen to our-"

Taehyun turned his attention back onto the rain. The school was spewing all this legal nonsense as if it really did anything. Nobody in their right minds would leave the school grounds, not after seeing what he had.

"Taehyun," Taehyun looked up. Yeonjun stood tall and in Taehyun's line of sight, the blond's eyes heavy with stress and his mouth bent upwards in a strained smile. Yeonjun was trying to make it better. Yeonjun was trying to take on everyone's burdens, Yeonjun was trying to ignore what had just happened. Yeonjun just had a different way of going about denial.

The blond was speaking. "The school requests we should go to the classes we have during first period. Something about attendance."

Taehyun stood, and gave Yeonjun the most meaningful look he could muster. Yeonjun deserved it. Since the incident happened - a few minutes short of an hour ago - Yeonjun had gone around, reassuring the people in the lobby they'd be okay. The blond had hugged countless bodies, as though to give away the calm he had, and take on everyone else's worry. Yeonjun choked on a sob.

"Thanks," The blond shakily spoke, "I'll be okay. You stay safe, okay?" 

"Of course." Taehyun said, slid his backpack on, and gave Yeonjun a big hug, to which the older shakily reciprocated. He slowly walked away, looking back when he reached the foot of the staircase. Yeonjun was cocooned in his boyfriend's arms, shoulders jerking in uncontrolled sobs. Soobin lifted a hand to wave at Taehyun, and the blond snuggled further into Soobin's neck. Taehyun waved back, and promptly looked away.

Taehyun climbed the stairs.

* * *

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello, it's me again!!! To be honest, I'm not exactly sure where I wanna go with this story, but I was looking out the window during vacation whilst it was pouring real hard, and a thought popped into my head: 'Hey, what if nature decided she had had enough of us fucking around with her, and she turned her back on us one day??' And yeah, it somehow morphed into this story. But I like the beginning, and although I don't know where it will go, I hope you enjoyed this!!
> 
> I've had this in the drafts for so long, but i forgot about it 😭 Ao3 would have deleted it if I didn't post it rip 
> 
> side note: It is not a teaxtea work without vampires.
> 
> Imma go work on my other fic now, i will update this sometime in the future, but for now, ecarlate is my main bitch 😼
> 
> (Updates might be very slow, as I am working on something else at the same time, but bear with me 😹)


	2. 2

“Can you pick up the pace?”

Beomgyu stopped, and blinked his tired and bloodshot eyes downwards, looking at the kid on the step below him.

There was a look of unbridled annoyance and irritation upon the face of his classmate as he was told to speed up, but Beomgyu blinked his eyes back to the front, drearily dragging his feet up the stairs, resuming his old pace.

If his classmates wanted to walk fast, they could easily walk around him. Beomgyu couldn’t be bothered to do anything for anyone right now, as both his thoughts and consciousness were still plagued by what he had last seen.

He blurred out all the happenings in his surroundings, and followed the crowd as they went to their respective classes, allowing his feet - programmed to their morning setting - to carry him, in a near robotic manner, to his class in the first period.

The teacher he had at the beginning and end of the day ticked them off as they entered the class, giving each child a look of sympathy as they walked in. He gave Beomgyu a look of disdain - to which Beomgyu couldn’t be bothered to care about, and he walked to the back corner of the classroom, plopping in a seat by the windows, staring at the rain as it beat the ground below.

The class around him was lively, some kids chatting away.

“Can you believe that?”

“Nah, man, this shit is _wack_.”

“Ten dollars the school put a realistic ass hologram on the door to scare us into believing the rain did that.”

“ _Serious_? Wanna bet?”

The student raised his voice, and out of the reflection in the window, Beomgyu saw him stand from his seat in the middle of the classroom.

“It is all a ploy to keep us in school-”

“How would you know?”

“Yeah man, go outside right now if you really believe that. I’ll pay you.”

“Oh yeah?”

“When have I ever gone back on my word?”

Beomgyu turned his head back to the window, viewing all the cars from his spot conveniently placed three stories above ground.

A familiar voice nearby him spoke,

“Are you really willing to risk it all for ten dollars?”

“Huh?” The class chorused in a laugh. The boy continued, “This don’t concern you, _weirdo_.”

Taehyun was seated in front of him, and speaking, his red hair glinting in the dim white light of the classroom.

“Then by all means, go ahead.”

“Yeah, I fuckin’ _would_ have, if you shut your damn mouth. I didn’t need no approval from _you_.”

Taehyun just blankly watched as the student walked out of the room, his footsteps echoing on the tile of the school’s stairs, the sound growing further and further away.

Beomgyu looked out the window.

* * *

It had been thirty minutes. The class was seated quietly, watching as the time wasted away.

The boy Taehyun had spoken to was yet to return, and amidst the concern of his classmates, Taehyun remained apathetic. It took too much energy to waste his worry on an asshole like that, and people died everyday, so what was one more asshole added to those stats to him? Nothing.

Taehyun pulled out his phone, leaning his head against the closed window. He was near the back of the classroom, seated conveniently far away from the rest of the class, but not being too obvious and seating himself at the back.

“Mr. E., may I go to use the bathroom please?”

Their teacher looked up from his newspaper, pushing up his glasses, and facing the female student as he spoke,

“Whatever. Just come back. If you die, it’ll come off my paycheck.”

Some students laughed.

The student nodded, and left the room. The teacher turned a page. Outside, the rain poured. It had gotten harder than before.

* * *

Another half hour had passed, yet not one of the people that had left the classroom had returned.

“You think she’s taking a shit?”

“Nah, man. Girls don’t shit.”

“Uh, _yeah_ we do.”

“And you’d know because?”

“Because I’m a girl, and-”

“Good evening,”

The speakers crackled, the students quieted down.

“It is your principal speaking. Many samples of the ‘alien rain’ have been sent to the headquarters of the leading university’s research team, and they’re working on letting us know what we are dealing with. I’ll advise you to remain on school grounds, possibly overnight, or until the rain ceases. On that note, it has come to our attention that many students have left the school grounds, only for them not to return. Please, I beg of you, do not let your pursuit of peer approval lead you into doing something irreversible. For tonight and possibly forever, your lives are all on the line. I will end on this note - rations will be served in the school’s cafeteria at seven pm.”

Beomgyu looked at the clock. Twenty five minutes to seven. Beomgyu wasn’t hungry. He turned back to the rain, his eyes drooping closed due to the repetitive sound.

* * *

“You hear that?”

“Yeah rations, which means food. Which means I’m _hungry_.”

“How can you even think about eating right now? The guy that left earlier on today hasn’t come back-”

A girl - panicked, she interjected, “I’ve been calling his phone, I don’t know what to do-”

“He was your boyfriend, right?”

“Yeah, but I don’t know if he’s dead or-”

“Thank _god_ , the guy saved me ten bucks.”

Silence. The teacher flipped a page in the newspaper he was reading.

“You fucking jerk!”

The girl stormed out the class, her posse of friends following closely behind her. It was seven pm already. Taehyun readied his backpack as the students filed out of the classroom.

The teacher had also left, and Taehyun would have done so as well, if the sound of even - and nearly inaudible - breathing didn’t catch his attention. He turned around, looking for the source, and stumbled on the sight of a sleeping classmate.

He almost laughed. It was so very Beomgyu to sleep during a crisis. He walked towards the sleeping body, and turning on the flash on his phone’s camera, he snapped a picture, the bright light pulling his classmate out of sleep.

Beomgyu slowly blinked tired eyes open.

“What do you want?” He yawned, rubbing at his eyes.

“Rations at seven. It’s seven.” Taehyun said,to the point.

“Where are all the others?” Beomgyu looked around in confusion, then his face morphed into an expression of dread.

Beomgyu continued, hesitant,

“Did they all-”

Taehyun knew what he was thinking.

“No, they didn’t go into the rain, if that’s what you’re asking. They’re all downstairs, getting food. Which is what I should be doing, but here I am.”

Taehyun was just being a decent human being, looking out for his fellow human.

Beomgyu looked down, his eyes fixed on the table.

“Not hungry.” Beomgyu lifted his eyes, and, seeing them, Taehyun’s face contorted in a rare expression of worry.

“Thanks though.” The brunet offered him a strained smile, but Taehyun wasn’t buying it. Beomgyu looked way too miserable to be allowed to wallow in his thoughts.

“Alright.” Taehyun clapped, fully slipping his backpack on. “Get up.”

* * *

“Why are you doing this?” Beomgyu asked, as he allowed the redhead to guide him to the cafeteria, pulling him down the stairs by the wrist. If Beomgyu remembered anything about Taehyun, it was that his hair was red, he didn’t talk much, he could come off as apathetic sometimes, and he was smart. Extremely smart.

Beomgyu had never envied anyone’s brain so much as he did Taehyun’s. But what he didn’t know was the _reason_ the redhead dragged him down the stairs, even though he had explicitly stated he was not hungry.

Taehyun didn’t answer him. Beomgyu sighed. His body felt really heavy, his limbs ached from being seated on the wooden chair, his head hurt, he couldn’t stop thinking about the rain, and the _girl_ , and his mom - _he missed his mom_ , and-

“Are you crying?”

The redhead stood on a step below him, looking up at him. Beomgyu wanted to laugh in embarrassment, maybe deny that he could do something so innately human, however, his eyes were too occupied with the streaks of tears they produced to even entertain any semblance of happiness, be it fake or not.

Beomgyu sank to the ground, sitting on a step, covering his eyes.

How embarrassing.

* * *

Taehyun gave Beomgyu an awkward pat on the back, and after telling the brunet he was going downstairs - to which he nodded in response - he left Beomgyu to his antics, too awkward and unfamiliar with him to act as a shoulder for him to cry on.

Taehyun knew the ‘sight’ was a source of fear for many, but Beomgyu had been crying. He wondered what changed, maybe the girl was close to him? He thought to himself. But either way, the Beomgyu crying on the stairs was vastly different from the Beomgyu that jested at him this morning.

He scoffed. So the brunet had other sides to himself as well, aside from the image as class clown he set for himself.

He got to the cafeteria, a lunch lady dressed in white scrubs directing him to a long line. Taehyun digressed from the path he had been put on, looking for and securing a spot in a shorter line. He searched his bag for his student identification.

“Good evening! Here are - Taehyun!” Taehyun stopped his rummaging, looking at the owner of the familiar voice.

“Oh- Soobin? What are you doing here?”

The taller scratched at his neck’s back, nervous laughter bubbling out of his lips.

“Yeonjun wasn’t up for it - he’s in here resting though - but I think he needed a break.”

Taehyun nodded in acknowledgement. It was no wonder the introvert had taken Yeonjun’s place. His boyfriend needed a rest. No matter how much it made his heart swoon, he came here for a reason - and, the people behind him weren’t too happy with the hold up.

“You can play catch up with Susan when we’ve got our food!”

Soobin laughed again, his hands reaching for several items and putting them in a ziploc sachet, handing it to Taehyun once it had been zipped shut.

Thoughtfully, the tall one cocked his head to the side.

“Want one for Beomgyu?”

Taehyun shrugged.

Soobin gave him another of the bags, waving at Taehyun as he left to look for a table.

As if on cue, he saw Beomgyu wiping at his eyes as he climbed down the stairwell, about to get led into a line by the lunch lady.

Taehyun sat on his seat, putting the rations on the table, and debating on whether or not he should call the brunet. He didn’t want to attract any attention to himself, and really, he wasn’t friends with Beomgyu either. He decided against it.

Beomgyu would make his way somewhere else once he had gotten his food. Somewhere he had actual friends.

Taehyun opened the ziploc, pulling out a rectangular bar in a foil wrapper. He peeled it open - and was disappointed. The food helped it sink in - that they really were in an emergency situation. School had taken rations literally. It looked like a dry biscuit.

“Three thousand, six hundred calorie emergency food ration.” He read the lettering on the packet aloud. Experimentally biting into the large cracker - and immediately regretting it, as the food tasted like _not_ food, and it was dry, working like a sponge, it seemed to absorb all the liquid in his mouth. He reached for the bottle of water in the bag.

As Taehyun struggled to drown the abomination in water, he felt his table shake, and lowered his bottle to view Beomgyu plop on the bench opposite him.

_Why here?_

The brunet paid no mind to his existence as he peeled an identical bar open.

“I’ll advise you not to do that.” Taehyun started, before he could stop himself. Having nothing to lose, he continued, "Tastes gross."

Beomgyu’s eyes blinked upwards, the bloodshot white blankly staring at him. He went back to opening his cracker.

_Well, awkward._

Taehyun went back to his ‘cracker’, trying to down the dry food with more water. It proved difficult, and seemed to lodge itself in his throat. He downed more water, successfully getting the bit of food to make it to his stomach. Taehyun inwardly rejoiced, wrapping the cracker up as best he could, and putting it to the table. He would not touch that, not unless he was starving.

“Was that for me?” The brunet spoke, not moving his head from its downcast position.

Taehyun blinked in confusion. Seeing as he didn't get an answer, Beomgyu lifted his head, gesturing to the other pack of rations on the table.

“That.”

Taehyun made an ‘o’ with his mouth, then nodded.

“Yeah.” A pause. “It was.”

“So why didn’t you call me and save me the trouble of lining up?”

“We aren’t friends.”

“Yeah, okay, but you could at least be a decent human being.”

Taehyun lifted his chin.

“Not obligated to. What next?”

Beomgyu scoffed in incredulity.

“No wonder so many people don’t like you.”

“Didn’t ask to be liked.” Taehyun, feeling sassy, added, “Finish crying yet?”

Beomgyu rolled his eyes, his face flushing bright red. At the actions of the abashed brunet, Taehyun nearly chuckled.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Taehyun's a bit of an asshole, but eh everyone's got a little bit of assholery in them


	3. 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> made a comeback with a longer chapter ayeeee

“The humans are dying.”

“What’s new?” Jimin threw his head back in melodic laughter at Jin’s comment, slapping his palm to his senior’s upheld one in a high-five.

“This is not a cause for _laughter_ ,” Namjoon folded his hands on the long table, “-as I’ll have you know, we _need_ them.”

“Okay, but so what? The exploitative species will be better off gone anyways.”

Namjoon narrowed his eyes at the vampire.

“ This means we should _do_ something. They’re going at an _exponential_ rate.”

Taehyung spoke, his dark eyes narrowing in reminiscence as he looked out into the distance.

“The rain has come again.”

Jimin scoffed, crossing his arms as he rolled his eyes. “There he goes again, being all mystic-“

“The rain will kill them all. And so the downfall of vampires will come upon us.”

“We’ll be just fine.” Jin said, nonchalantly leaning back into his plush red leather seat. “We only need to feed about once a week, and if we keep the human well, they’d be able to serve us for a _long_ time.”

Namjoon rubbed his head in his palms, done.

“Long enough to keep you alive?” He asked.

The room remained quiet.

Jimin tentatively leaned forward. 

“Then what do you think we should do?”

 _Finally getting somewhere._ Namjoon smiled, his fangs on full display. 

* * *

Taehyun had been eating, trying to wish the awkward and tense silence away from the atmosphere between himself and the brunet before him, when the cafeteria cried out in uproar, panicked screams filling the large space of the place, exclamatory phrases escaping people’s mouths without restraint.

“Did she _push_ him?”

“Oh my god-”

“Fucking _murderer_!”

Taehyun flitted his eyes to the crowd that had gravitated towards the door, an empty and eerily perfect half circle of space separating them from a girl that stood before the transparent doors, her hands outstretched in front of her. The girl shook as she turned around to view her appalled schoolmates, streaks of dark makeup upon her face as she cried.

“I didn’t know it would do that to him-”

The crowd messily took dramatic steps away from the sobbing girl.

“ _I didn’t know!_ ” She screamed, desperately trying to appeal to the crowd of terror stricken eyes. Beomgyu, who had been peacefully mincing at his cracker - now watching the spectacle unfold - visibly flinched at the sound of the girl's screeching in Taehyun’s line of sight.

“Hope you won’t begin with the waterworks again.” Taehyun commented, grabbing Beomgyu’s attention.

The brunet snapped his head towards Taehyun.

“Are you that insensitive to everything that's happening?”

Taehyun cocked his head to the side.

“I am not.” Beomgyu shook his head in disgust. Taehyun continued, “It just doesn't concern me.”

Beomgyu scoffed.

“I’m going back to class.” The brunet stood, and Taehyun watched as Beomgyu made his way to the stairs, disappearing up the stairwell.

Taehyun downed a bit more water with his cracker.

* * *

Beomgyu had gotten to the class just in time to hear the familiar tone of his phone, the screen lighting up through his bag from his seat at the back.

He made his way to his desk, dropping his ziploc of rations to the table as he rummaged for his phone.

“Hello?”

Beomgyu’s heart rate skyrocketed out of joy and relief when he heard his mother on the other end. Although she was a bit quiet, it was her voice all the same.

“My baby- I’m _so_ glad-” Beomgyu heard sniffling on the other end of the line. He didn’t care much though, he was pretty close to crying himself. “I hope you’re doing well?”

Beomgyu was holding on to his phone so tight he was afraid he would crush it. “I’m doing fine- but ma?”

Beomgyu couldn’t explain _how_ for the life of him, but he could feel it- there was something off.

“Are you okay?”

“Of course!” Beomgyu flinched away from the phone. His mother’s voice had been amplified through the speakers.

His mother continued, quieter,

“I just have some- uh… _uninvited_ guests over- It’s no cause to worry- although they have this weird look in their eyes, they had come in the rain, drenched- seriously, they were dripping. I thought I should give them a place to stay before the rain got them for good.”

Beomgyu’s face turned up in confusion. 

Beomgyu tentatively and quietly whispered, “Aren’t they supposed to be dead _already?”_

If they had gone to his house in the _rain-_

“Beomgyu baby,” His mom interrupted, “I love you, but I have to go now. I just wanted to make sure you were okay.” His mother's voice seemed to be growing further away from the phone, as she desperately spoke, “I love you _so_ much-”

The line had broken upon a static, and the triple tone signalled it cut.

Beomgyu dumbfoundedly dropped his hands to his side, wondering what _that_ was about. He hoped his mother was alright. Perhaps the rain over on his side was normal, not the alien rain here. He _desperately_ hoped that was the case.

“That your mother?”

Beomgyu rolled his eyes at the voice, turning around to view the approaching redhead.

“What do you want now? Are you going to make another comment? Perhaps pull another insensitive shit-line out of your ass, or comment on me having feelings for my mom?”

Taehyun raised an eyebrow, one side of his pretty lips turning up in a smirk. 

“You have feelings for your mother?”

“Familial love is a thing, weirdo.”

Taehyun plopped into the seat before him, wearing the chair backwards as he leaned on Beomgyu's desk.

"So?"

Beomgyu gave Taehyun a weird look. 

"So _what_?"

Taehyun craned his neck forwards as though the question were obvious. "So, is she okay?"

Beomgyu's eyebrows shot upwards, feigning surprise.

"So you _can_ care about others-"

Taehyun set his lips straight, his face turning stoic.

"I shouldn't have asked. Don't mind me."

The redhead turned around in his seat, facing the front of the classroom.

Beomgyu scoffed. What was it with Taehyun and making everything awkward? He was just cracking a joke-

"And _I_ was cracking a joke when I mentioned your tears earlier. Forgive me if our senses of humor are incompatible."

"But that was different- you brought that up after someone had practically killed someone else, that was _insensitive-_ "

"And what makes you think what you said wasn't insensitive either?"

Beomgyu chuckled in disbelief. "Come on now, you're overreacting-"

" _No_ , tell me." Taehyun turned to face Beomgyu, the redhead's large eyes glaring daggers into his own.

_What the hell?_

"I want to know what makes you think those two situations aren't one and the same. I can confirm that yes, I made an asshole-ish move earlier, but what makes you believe you aren't doing the same right now?"

Beomgyu blinked down at Taehyun, flabbergasted. What was the redhead going on about now?

* * *

_"Heartless piece of shit."_

_"You're so fucking **apathetic** to everything that happens around-" _

Taehyun placed his head on the table, trying to breathe and calm his thoughts. He wasn't heartless, _or_ apathetic.

He was just conditioned to be less vocal about how he felt, and he blamed it upon his strange upbringing.

Perhaps it was to do with the fact that his father had ignored his mother’s existence after his birth, or the fact that she had reduced to alcoholism and other _strange_ things after that that he had been conditioned this way, but the fact remained in the now that Beomgyu was leaning over his downcast head, tapping on his shoulder, whining apologies in his ear.

"I'm _so_ sorry- I don't know what I did, but it must be pretty bad to get you reacting like this."

Taehyun didn't respond, he only kept his head to the desk.

Beomgyu let out a nervous laugh.

"I really didn't mean any offence."

Taehyun raised his head with a sigh, keeping his face level.

"It's okay. You didn't do anything."

And Beomgyu really _didn't_ do anything wrong, but like most humans, Taehyun was a complex being, and certain words trigger certain memories to surface, come out of hiding.

Beomgyu awkwardly nodded, and sat in his chair.

"If it makes you feel any better, you can make fun of my crying anytime you want-"

Taehyun groaned, rubbing at his head. It had taken on a headache. 

"Be careful what you wish for." He said.

* * *

“Perhaps we should stop here for today. Set up camp in the largest house we can find.”

“Yeah, but you seem to be forgetting something- we are in a residential area, _full_ of humans. We seven, are _not_ human.” The other six crossed their arms on their chests before Namjoon.

Jungkook spoke, “Well, we can look for a nice one willing enough to share their house with us.”

“In _this_ rain?”

“Namjoon, don’t we look more than a little suspicious right now- because, I’ve been thinking-”

Jin cut Yoongi off, and the latter gave the oldest a glare.

“Enough of that- we need to find a house, a _really_ large one, and fast.” Namjoon looked up at the clouds. He supposed Jin was right. There was an end in sight. “It will be getting sunny soon.”

Taehyung,

“After the rain comes the sun, and with it, our-”

“Taehyung-” The vampire was interrupted by one of his friends, “-we need to move!”

Namjoon waited for Taehyung to move ahead and along with the others before he bent his knees in a low squat, and with an insane amount of force, pushed off his feet to jump onto the nearest roof. He would run and scout from above.

He placed his hood on his head, bowing his neck slightly to prevent it from flipping over, and allowing his large hood to serve as a makeshift shield from the rain. No human would take them in if they looked wet.

“This one looks cool!”

“Namjoon, can we stay here?”

“No, _this_ one-”

“Wow, how do people afford this stuff?”

“You are speaking as though we don’t have a _mansion_ for a home.”

“Yeah, but we had centuries to accumulate that wealth. It’s amazing what some humans can do in such a short time-”

“This one is so large, it could take _us_ and a few _hundred_ humans- Namjoon!”

Namjoon shook his head as he jumped to the ground.

“Are you guys forgetting that we are supposed to be _quiet_?”

“But the houses are so _pretty-_ ”

“We know, Jungkook.”

“But Namjoon,” Jimin started, “Doesn’t this one look good?” As the vampire gestured to the grandiose door to a large house, the door burst open.

A stout woman, short, with a kind face looked up to them, her eyes clouded with panic.

“What are you boys doing out here in the rain?”

Namjoon grimaced. This woman was most definitely human.

Quickly looking to play the part of the drenched wanderer without housing, Namjoon bowed his head before the woman.

Luckily, he didn't have to say much, or anything at all. The woman offered,

“Oh come in, I have got plenty of room - at least to keep you safe till this rain subsides."

Namjoon let out a sigh of relief through his nose. He showed the woman a close lipped smile, gesturing for the others to walk before him and into the open doors.

* * *

“Kang Taehyun, Choi Beomgyu. Please make your way to the school office.”

The two looked at each other. Seated side by side, and pretty much isolated from the lively group of ruffians they call their classmates, they stood from their corner, and didn’t talk to the teacher before making their way down the school’s hallway.

“What do you think they want us for?” Beomgyu started, trying to initiate a conversation.

“Dunno.” Taehyun replied, not much in the mood for conversation.

Beomgyu rolled his eyes.

“You’d be fun at parties.”

“Parties suck, and are a waste of time, so I don’t attend them-”

“Exactly what I mean.”

“-Often.”

“Oh. So you _have_ been to _a_ party." Beomgyu grinned. "Ever get laid?”

Taehyun gave the brunet a weird look.

“That was a stupid question, actually. I bet your parties were more like little gatherings of nerds to play chess or checkers with a bottle of non-alcoholic sparkling juice to share with each other in plastic cups-” Beomgyu looked at him with a teasing smile, “I’m right, aren’t I?”

“That was _oddly_ specific, and no, you aren’t - although gatherings like those are nice _once_ in a while-”

“I _knew_ it-”

“I can assure you I’ve been to your regular, run of the mill, college party. The drinks, the sex, the assaultingly loud music, and all that shenanigans.”

Beomgyu raised his brows. “Hearing the word ‘ _sex_ ’ out of your mouth is so- _weird._ You seem so-”

“Innocent? Filtered? Close minded? Conservative? Prudent?" Taehyun listed, then made a turn in the hallway. He put his hands in the back pockets of his pants. "I get those a lot.”

“Yeah. Exactly. You don’t peg me as the type to say shit like that.”

“Yeah well,” Taehyun gave him a blank look. “The element of surprise comes in handy sometimes.”

Beomgyu and Taehyun stopped before the office.

“I don’t really wanna go in here. Place looks creepy.” And ominous it did look, as the only light was a singular drop light in the space of the office, illuminating only a small section of the hallway through open blinds from the inside-out. 

Taehyun hummed in agreement to Beomgyu’s statement. As the redhead settled his hand upon the doorknob in preparation to turn it, Beomgyu spoke,

“You never answered my question.”

Taehyun sighed and gave Beomgyu a tired look. “Which one?”

Beomgyu walked closer, a mischievous look on his face.

“The one where I asked if you’ve ever gotten laid.”

Taehyun only slightly cocked his head away from the brunet that was currently in his space.

“Guess.” He deadpanned.

Beomgyu’s eyes went wide in surprise. “So- you _have_?”

Taehyun blinked.

Beomgyu tried again. “Haven’t?”

The blank look remained unchanging.

“I can’t _read_ you- like, just say yes or-”

Taehyun opened the door, turning his back on the prying brunet to walk into their principal’s office.

Within the silence of the office, Beomgyu had whispered, “So rude.” 

Taehyun focused his eyes on the image of the principal, a man usually presumed to be in his sixties by the majority of the school’s population. He looked like he was way past that mark now, as he scribbled something with an expensive pen onto inexpensive sheets of paper. His eyes seemed to sag, and Taehyun presumed him to be extremely tired, or extremely _slow_ , as the old man with greying hair and wrinkled skin was yet to notice their arrival.

“Sir?” The man’s head tilted upwards at Beomgyu’s tiny voice.

“You called for us.” Taehyun added, not too keen on exchanging pleasantries. They must have been called for a reason, and he wanted to get down to it pretty quickly.

“Oh- Of course.” The man’s voice was gravelly, and sounded akin to that of a refined chainsmoker. The principal gestured to the two seats before his desk.

“Please.”

The young boys took their seats, stiff as a board before the head of the school.

The man scribbled some finishing letters onto some loose leaf, before he slowly capped the pen, and smoothly clicked the sheets into their respective binder.

The principal finally folded his hands upon the desk, his gaze heavy and settled upon the two.

“I am sure you two are no longer strangers to death. Between the closing of school and just this evening, we have had several incidents and accidents that resulted in the death of our students. We - assuming all the people that left at school’s closing had died - are down to about three-tenths of our population.” The boys sat, still and listening. Until,

“What does this have to do with us?” Taehyun asked, and Beomgyu observed a small shift in the redhead’s features from the typical blank to suspecting scrutiny.

The principal let out a deep chuckle. “I was getting there.” The small smile upon the head’s face set into a hard line.

“Taehyun, you received a letter. And forgive me, for reading through it, but that was protocol. Here.” The principal handed him a roughened sheet of paper. It seemed to have been ripped open from folded privacy - if the uneven edges at the top and bottom were any indicator.

Taehyun folded the sheet of paper, and moved to put it in his back pocket. He frowned however, when he saw the addressee. The redhead’s features seemed to harden.

“And Choi Beomgyu. City census was held, and your mother-” Beomgyu blinked. What about his mother?

“Reports came of her death from bystanders and neighbours just this morning. I am deeply sorry-”

Beomgyu frowned as he tried to make sense of the situation. “That can’t be right.”

“I don’t want to be hard on you, Beomgyu, but denial is never how you accept a situation. Your mother was a good-”

“You don’t know her. And she’s not dead. I spoke to her _just_ this afternoon.”

The principal gave him a sad look as he shook his aged head.

“Well, isn’t that pitiful. Delusions never helped anyone, Beomgyu. Your mother is _dead_ , and several sources confirmed it. I don’t know what else to say to you, young man. But if you believe and find solace in talking to _ghosts_ , then have at it. I am but a messenger. I can’t stop you from believing in _unrealistic_ things.”

Beomgyu raised his chin. “It’s not unrealistic if it happened, sir.”

“Of course it isn’t.” The principal said, his tone drenched in sarcasm. Then, “Well, that was all I had for you boys, so report back to your classes, please.”

The two boys stood, and didn’t speak a parting greeting to the school’s head as they walked away, and to their classroom.

“Mom can’t be dead, can she?”

“Your mother very much _can_ die. But I doubt she is.” Taehyun said, then beneath his breath, “It’s a shame mine isn’t yet.”

Beomgyu was surprised at the grim wish, 

“I always thought you tended to drift to the edgier side of things sometimes, but isn’t that a little... much?”

Taehyun gave the brunet a look of mock amusement. “If you knew the wench, you would have killed her _yourself_.”

As they neared the door to their classroom, Taehyun told the brunet to walk ahead of him. He pulled out the crumpled sheet of paper from the warmth of his pocket, opening it to see his mother’s name in her ugly print sprawled at the top.

**_“LOL. It’s a shame you’ll never get to pour that bottle of heineken on my grave. I found it in your room and drank it, and when you get home, I’ll let you in on a little secret, poppy._ **

  * **_Actually, I changed my mind, and I’ll do it now._**



**_I hold a promise and a secret within the sustainer, my boy, and you’re going to have to navigate your way through the web to get to me._ **

**_-Your (un)loving mother :D”_ **

“What the hell?” Taehyun quietly voiced to himself. This was _not_ what he was expecting. 

Had his mother adopted an affinity for puzzles and riddles while he was gone? The student sighed in frustration. The only remaining parental figure in his life was a _strange_ being. _He_ felt more like the parent in most situations. He pressed the sheet together until it made a rough ball. He would dispose of the stupid letter.

Stretching the crumpled paper over the trash can as he walked to class, the redhead then hesitated.

He pulled his fingers back, and with a scowl, he folded the sheet back into the safety of his pocket.

* * *

  
  


He had not expected to be greeted with cheers once he entered the room. 

The class went wild as they rejoiced, people looking outside the window with a mix of disbelief and hope, as they sung it out to each other,

“The rain is fucking over!”

“It’s stopped?”

“Really- oh my god-”

“I can go home!”

At times like these, teachers would usually pick a bone with any students that left without their permission. But the teacher himself had grabbed for his own briefcase, and had rudely bumped past him as he ran out the door. Soon enough, he was one of the only ones that remained- along with Beomgyu. He stood looking at the image of the brunet as he prepared his school bag.

“You’re staring now?” Beomgyu gave him a cocky smirk. “I had no idea you liked me that much.”

Taehyun rolled his eyes.

“Don’t flatter yourself.”

Beomgyu laughed.

“I don’t have to, I know I’m pretty. Anyways,” Beomgyu walked up to him with a small, hopeful smile.

“Wanna walk home with me?”

Taehyun lifted a brow.

“Is the big, bad Choi Beomgyu scared of the weather?”

“I am not big, or bad, and _yes_ I am. It’s killed quite a lot of people.”

“Point.”

“So I’ll need my knight in dull armor to walk me home.”

“Dull?”

“Yeah. Because you’re pretty dull. And boring. But that’s just my opinion.” Beomgyu gave him a wide smile.

“So what do you say?”

“No.”

* * *

  
  


But he was walking with the brunet on the road to his house. And he very much regret going back on his word, as his ears threatened to _fall_ off with Beomgyu’s insistent chatter.

“Are we just gonna pretend the rain didn’t happen?”

Taehyun looked around his surroundings. It was almost eerie, how deceitfully _normal_ everyone looked. People conversing in groups then dispersing as they bid each other goodbye, some people getting in their cars, others looking at their phones, but the only thing out of the ordinary was a good amount of people had their heads up to the sky, faces clouded with a mix of uncertainty and anxiety. 

“I guess we are.”

Beomgyu remained quiet for a moment. Then,

“Are you gonna stop at the convenience with me? I need something to eat other than the dry fish crap they gave us at school.”

“Whatever.”

“Ever the enthusiastic one.”

“I didn’t ask to be here.”

“Okay, okay, I get it. Your mood everyday is ‘annoyed 24/7’-”

“-Or maybe you’re just annoying.”

“I doubt it.”

“Let’s just go to the store before I ditch you here.”

“You _wouldn’t_.”

Taehyun stopped in his walk, giving Beomgyu a look.

“Okay, you very much would. But we’re already here, so why not just get food, _then_ ditch me.” Beomgyu gave Taehyun a shining smile.

Taehyun supposed he was hungry. His mouth was still pretty dry from the little bit of cracker he ingested. They walked into the space of the nearest store, Taehyun going first, with Beomgyu following after. A salesman - who looked to be around his late fifties - stood at the counter, a look of stark _terror_ upon his face. Taehyun gave the old man a sad look. Poor man was probably scared of _anything_ coming from the outdoors. He looked like he had seen quite a lot.

Into the aisles they walked, and Beomgyu engaged him in idle chatter as he picked out a small pack of gummies from the shelf.

He figured that was all he was in the mood for. “I’m paying.” Taehyun told his classmate.

Beomgyu gasped in dramatics. “For me too? I always knew I could count on you.”

Taehyun gave him an unimpressed look, and left Beomgyu to his decisions as he walked towards the old man.

“Good evening-” Taehyun greeted,

“T-take it- and leave,” The man interrupted, and his eyes widened at Taehyun's Image. Taehyun frowned. He was pretty sure the poor man was near tears.

“Just _go_!” Taehyun did as he was told, although with much confusion- but not before dropping a wad of cash to the cashier’s table and giving the man a strange look did he move to exit out the designated door.

“Weird.” Taehyun mumbled to himself, but he supposed he had seen weirder things. 

He leaned against the brick of the convenience store wall, watching the sky. 

He had _definitely_ seen weirder things. 

He thought to open his pack of gummies, and had only gotten to chew through _one_ of them when he felt the cool of someone’s hand around his wrist. He had turned, expecting to face Beomgyu, but what he got was the image of a shorter, _pretty_ man- probably in his late teens or early twenties. Taehyun looked at the hand on his wrist.

Before he could open his mouth to speak his typical - _‘what do you want?_ ’ - with a dash of sarcasm, he felt a _searing_ pain in his neck. He was pretty sure he had dropped his bag of _haribo_ to the ground, but he didn’t much care at that moment. His own ears rang with the sound of his scream, and the burn in his neck only seemed to spread to the rest of his body. He screamed and screamed for what felt like _hours_ unending - but he was sure only amounted to a few seconds - however, the searing pain paid no heed to time, only rapidly surfed the expanse of his skin and bones as it staked its claim with _millions_ of torching pinpricks, joining together to make a sensation akin to that of being _scorched_ by a full-body _branding iron_.

“What the- shit, _Jimin_ -”

“I’m sorry! He smelled like-”

Taehyun could hear only snippets of what was happening around him, he seemed to drift in and out of consciousness. The pain in his neck was everywhere now, and it had intensified a _hundredfold_ . He felt like he was _burning —_ yet he felt so _numb_ , so much so that if he was currently crying, or regurgitating his last meal along with his organs, he couldn’t tell. A dull pain rang in his head as he was going through the inexplicable feeling, then,

“Shit- he’s _seizing-_ Jimin! What did you fucking do?”

“-n’t know! He was just-” “-standing there with-” “ _-fledgeling-_ ”

Taehyun couldn’t hear. And he couldn’t be bothered to _try_ anymore. His body felt masticated, regurgitated, and lit on fire all at once, so he was _pretty_ sure he had other things to worry about. Things that didn’t include the strangely casual conversation the people around him held. Why weren’t they getting him any _help_? 

“Just do it, Jimin. You started this.”

“But the elders-”

“Fucking _turn_ him, or you’ll have a human’s death on your hands!”

Then a familiar voice rang,

“What happened? _Oh_ my **_fucking-_ **”

Then Taehyun had lost all semblance of consciousness.

* * *

“You’re okay- you’re okay. Shit. Get a bag.”

Taehyun didn’t _feel_ okay, but the sweet voice that spoke to him from somewhere above insisted he was, so he would like to believe he was.

However, he _wasn’t_ , and the aches that rang through his body made it known to him. The pain in his gut mixed with the stabbing pain in his mouth- along with the pain that existed pretty much _everywhere_ else- had the redhead wondering why he was even _alive-_

Taehyun jolted awake with a heaving gasp as though he were a swimmer previously submerged and just breaking through the surface of the all encasing trap of water. He soon regretted his decision, as he was pretty sure the whole of his last meal - the crackers for rations at the school’s cafeteria, and the one gummy he had managed to consume - came heaving onto the cold of the floor he was laid upon.

“Where is the fucking _bag_?”

“I’m coming, _okay_. We only have the cold ones.”

“Yeah, well fucking bring it already. He isn’t going to last long without it, cold or warm, I don’t fucking care. He _needs_ the bag, no one gives a fuck about the _temperature_.”

“Okay- got it.”

The rush of footsteps came loud towards his now coughing figure. If Taehyun couldn’t see that much, he could at least _hear_ it.

Lowly, the sweet voice that had been coaxing him before spoke, “Well, I hope you aren’t a fucking gourmet. First taste is gonna _stink_.”

There was a new addition to his lips, besides the vomit that coated the insides of his mouth, and as soon as Taehyun realized it was a straw, he also recognized the smell behind it. Though it was unfamiliar, it smelled like _food_.

Taehyun hadn’t realized his hunger until the _glorious_ smell was presented before him. His eyes were closed as he blindly wrapped his dry lips around the thin apparatus, and with nothing but his hunger and the strange sounds and jarring aches of his stomach in mind, he _sucked_.

Taehyun was unable to handle the strength of the taste behind the liquid, and he spat it out onto the floor, allowing it to mix with what he was sure was his own vomit. He scrunched his nose at the vile thought. 

Finally able to make enough sense to speak, Taehyun croaked-

“What the _hell-_ ”

But as he finally cracked his eyes open and willed himself to view his surroundings better, he only hurtled to the side as he promptly heaved his stomach contents onto _another_ section of the floor.

He had seen his own last meal splattered before him- and as if that wasn’t disgusting enough, it was mixed in with a near perfect patch of fresh _blood_.

“I think you should leave. He’s awake now, and it isn’t safe for you.”

“I don’t know-”

“Do you want to die?”

Beomgyu’s familiar voice squeaked, 

“ _No_.”

“Then _leave_.”

“But this is _my_ house-”

“Fucking _leave_ already! Your boyfriend would kill you if he saw you, because you’re now his _food_ . Leave this room and go play house with your mother. We’ll be _right_ out.”

Taehyun had run out of bile to excrete, and he soon breathed on heavy breaths, trying to regulate his heartbeat and his thoughts- the former of which had grown strangely _slow_ , and he wondered what the hell was up with _that-_ along with whatever was happening around him. Taehyun was clueless, for what he reckoned to be the first time in his life. He didn’t much like the feeling. Nor did he like the feel of his stomach. Or the feel he got at the sight of the blood before him. _Was that his own blood?_ Taehyun had only asked _that_ question for the sake of asking. He knew it wasn’t. His gums throbbed, this time with an insistent _ache_.

As he looked up, his eyes squinting and suddenly sensitive even in the dim lighting - he purposely dodged the sight of his bile as he did so- he noticed his classmate looking at him with eyes full of something akin to _horror_ , mixed in with a little worry, and an _infinite_ amount of _questions_. Beomgyu seemed to huff out a shaky breath.

“Fine. Don’t-” Beomgyu gave the redhead a worried look. “Don’t do anything weird to him, okay?”

The owner of the voice that seemed so fond of using the word ‘fuck’ answered with obvious sarcasm,

“Of course. We won’t be touching your pretty _boyfriend_. Now, leave.”

“He’s not my-”

A tired sigh sounded beside him. Taehyun would have laughed if he didn’t _hurt_ so _much_. Beomgyu did tend to have that effect on people. “Taehyung, please, take him out.”

And that was the last he saw of Beomgyu. Not that he cared much for _that_ though. His mind and heart hadn’t been fixated on anything, after all. 

They had not been fixated on anything, but the lively sound of what he was _sure_ was Beomgyu’s heartbeat. Taehyun felt _sick_ at the strange, and near animalistic hunger that pooled low in his stomach in response to the sound.

“And now, we welcome you to the family.”

“Give us a name to the face?”

Taehyun finally looked at the people surrounding him. At the sight of what they held in their mouths, Taehyun faltered even as he sat, his hands flying behind him to support his weight as he rapidly leaned back in newly established _fear_ , with the pretty man - whom he vaguely remembered seeing by that store - smiling at him.

And Taehyun realized with newfound horror, that he _knew_.

A human’s smile shouldn’t be so predatory, shouldn’t have such unnaturally _long_ teeth adorning it. Taehyun seemed to put two and two together- this man was _not_ human. And judging by the _searing_ twin break in _his_ _own_ gums at the sight of what the man held in his hands, Taehyun let out a choked sound. 

He wasn’t one _either_.

* * *

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I ate so much haribo 'tangfastics' gummies my teeth hurt oh my god- and it was because of this i had taehyun buy gummies too 😏 and um teeth? gummies have to do with the teeth so maybe that was a hint towards the vampires lol
> 
> also it only took me a whole month but um HERE IS AN UPDATE WOOOOO i loved writing this chapter for reasons being that Beomgyu is such a FUN character to write lol. and how are we liking the vampires 👀 (if you haven't already noticed, I have a strange obsession with fantasy and vampires, *especially* vampires- i don't think i could ever write a work without a vampire in it 😭)
> 
> also things in this chapter are happening pretty fast, mayhaps everything would make a little more sense in the following ones. But for today, I'll have to not continue writing this - or i'll stay up ALL night doing it - and I'll go study instead because life is important and annoying like that 👎


End file.
